At some point, all joint families have faced the problem of their car not being big enough for everyone. Although the easiest solution is to simply buy a spacious SUV, a Chinese car fanatic decided to take a different approach.
In a viral video, social media personality Justin He — who goes by the alias “Justin Build Cars” — revealed his unique work. He showed a modified Volkswagen sedan that could seat at least eight passengers instead of the usual four. This was his own answer to the space restrictions of a standard four-seater car.
This one-of-a-kind car is twice as wide as its base vehicle at 3m (9.8ft). Additionally, it’s also significantly heavier than the original. Check out this custom, extra-wide Volkswagen in the video below.
How this intriguingly wide car came to be
This peculiar-looking car is a heavily modified Volkswagen Lamando L — a China-exclusive vehicle from the German firm. It was built by dividing the original chassis into two parts and adding extra car material between them to make it wider. Amusingly, the car got the name Volkswagen Lamando 5XL.
Since Justin wanted to keep his expenses on the experiment in check, the part added to the car in the middle isn’t premium quality. Instead, cheaper and makeshift parts make their way into those spaces. However, the end result still works just fine.
The Lamando 5XL has room for everyone
When it comes to spatial upgrades, the 5XL adds an extra seat at the front, and the capacity at the back also got a bump to five passengers. On top of that, there’s enough space in the trunk to fit a person of average height. However, since the modifications sacrificed certain automated features, it now takes quite an effort to lift the trunk cover.
At the front, there’s obviously no extension of the engine that powers the car. As a result, there’s a huge void on the left side of the engine, which is roomy enough to fit a person — not while traveling, of course. Moreover, the void prevails in its features as well because some significant components, such as a sunroof, present in the original model couldn’t be adapted into the wide-body version.
Despite the fact that it functions like any other car, it’s not street-legal. Therefore, the social media star has only tested it in personal areas, such as a rented race track.
Would you want to take this eye-catching wide car for a test drive? Tell us in the comments below. And make sure to check out how a Russian duo converted a Lada car into a Transformer.
